Why Aljamain Sterling leans toward Lerone Murphy over Movsar Evloev
· Yahoo Sports
Aljamain Sterling broke down the pivotal featherweight clash that headlines UFC London.
Movsar Evloev (19-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) meets Lerone Murphy (17-0-1 MMA, 9-0-1 UFC) on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 270 (Paramount+) from The O2 in London.
Visit hilogame.news for more information.
In what is being dubbed as a striker vs. grappler matchup, Sterling (20-5 MMA, 17-5 UFC) thinks Murphy's footwork will cause problems for Evloev when attempting his takedown entries.
"Here's my thing with Murphy: He fights pretty," Sterling said on his YouTube channel. "He's not in there to scrap and get down and dirty. He's looking to make it clean and super technical and go home with his face intact. Now with Movsar, I think he's willing to go through the mud a little bit more, but most of his fights, he's predominantly happy to grapple. He hasn't fought since we fought in December 2024. I wonder what that layoff is going to look like, especially with a guy he used to train with in Lerone Murphy. Lerone has great kickboxing, great footwork, side-to-side lateral movement, hard to hit, a nice jab.
"Sometimes he'll tend to throw the spinning back kick. All in all, I feel this should be Lerone's fight to win. I wouldn't be surprised if Movsar wins, though. He's a phenomenal talent, great grappler. I just don't know if he'll be able to get to Lerone Murphy to take him down early enough so he's not taking too much damage. If Lerone could put the damage on him early, then if he does get taken down, keep it to a position where he's not getting punched a lot, I could see him winning the rounds by damage. It's a really tough one to call, but I feel like Lerone may be the frontrunner for this."
Sterling, who takes on Youssef Zalal (18-5-1 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC) in the UFC Fight Night 274 headliner on April 25, admits the winner of Evloev and Murphy should be the No. 1 contender. However, one thing irks him about the matchup.
"It sucks that one of these guys have to lose their 0," Sterling said. "It should be risked in a title fight for both of them."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC London: Aljamain Sterling leans one way for main event